On December 12, the two Koreas verified their recent work to withdraw 11 border guard posts
through on sight visit. As part of the September military accord aimed at reducing tensions
and building trust, Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to demolish 11 guard posts each in the Demilitarized
Zone (DMZ), but later decided to disarm and keep one each for its historical value. Then
how did the Korean DMZ come to be and what is it exactly like? Let’s find out with
K-News Today for Korea Now. In the Armistice Agreement of 27th July 1953,
the Korean DMZ was established as each side agreed to move their troops back 2km from
the front line, creating a 4km wide buffer zone. The Military Demarcation Line (MDL)
goes through the center of the DMZ and indicates where the front was when the agreement was
signed. The DMZ intersects but does not follow the
38th parallel north, which was the border before the Korean War. It crosses the parallel
on an angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and the east end
lying north of it. The DMZ, separating two countries that have technically remained at
war since 1953, is 250km (160 miles) long, approximately 4km (2.5 miles) wide.
Although the zone separating both sides is demilitarized, the border beyond that strip
is one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world. That is why the Korean DMZ,
despite its name, is known as the most heavily militarized one, as former U.S. President
Bill Clinton called it “the scariest place on earth.”
Owing to this stalemate, and genuine hostility between the North and South, large numbers
of troops are stationed along both sides of the line, each side guarding against potential
aggression from the other side, even 65 years after its establishment. Soldiers from both
sides may patrol inside the DMZ, but they may not cross the MDL. However, sporadic outbreaks
of violence along the DMZ have killed hundreds of soldiers from two Koreas and US since 1953.
Things have changed after a series of inter-Korean summits this year. On April 27 President Moon
Jae-in and the North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un agreed in their first summit to discontinue
every hostile act between the two sides as part of efforts to formally end the Korean
War and introduce a peace treaty. According to the joint statement named the Panmunjom
Declaration, they also agreed to turn the heavily-fortified DMZ into a genuine peace
zone. On May 1st, the loudspeakers across the Korean border were dismantled, and both
sides committed to ending the balloon campaigns as following steps.
After the third summit between Moon and Kim in Pyongyang September 19, the Koreas’ defense
ministers agreed to gradually remove all guard posts near the DMZ. Recently they dismantled
11 guard posts in their individual country by demonstration-these used to be located
within less than 1km of each other. Up to now South Korea had about 80 guard posts standing
whereas North Korea around 160. In total 12,000 soldiers have been deployed there while armed
with heavy weapons despite the DMZ ban on arms by the Armistice Agreement. According
to military authorities there have been more than 80 armed clashes between the North and
South since 1953. The military agreement includes a series of
confidence building and conventional arms control measures such as reconnecting of MDL-crossing
road, demining operations at Arrowhead Ridge, disarming the Joint Security Area in the DMZ
and setting up air, ground, and maritime buffer zones to prevent accidental clashes. Will
these measures be able to pave the way for the DMZ turning into a genuine peace zone?
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